Drying machine



June 13, 1961` Filed April 29. 1959 D. A. coLKER 2,988,255

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June 13, 1961 n. A. coLKER 2,988,255

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INVENToR. //V/ A (aufm 2,988,255 BRYING MACHINE David A. Collier, Wyncote, Pa. (National Drying Machinery Co., 2701 N. Hancock St., Philadelphia 33, Pa.) Filed Apr. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 809,791 1 Claim. (Cl. 226-104) My invention relates to a drying machine of the type which is disclosed in Patent No. 2,449,667 issued to R. C. Parkes on September 2l, 1958, and which includes a drying chamber, an endless sprocket chain conveyor, poles carried by said conveyor, and means for propelling said conveyor through the drying chamber with the material to be dried formed into loops suspended from the poles.

In order to prevent marking of the material, which would take place if the same portions of the loops remained in contact with the supporting poles while the poles moved through the drying chamber, provision has heretofore been made for rotating the poles as they moved through the drying chamber. However, and as shown in FIG. 6 of the Parkes patent above mentioned, the poles 11 which support the loops 14 are provided with end gears 18 which mesh with racks 19 so that, as the poles move from left to right, as viewed in FIG. 1 of said Parkes patent, the poles will also be rotated about their individual axes thereby bringing direrent portions of the loops 14 into contact with the respective poles and thus preventing marking of the material. In the structure of the said Parkes patent, the rotation of the poles about their axes depended upon their forward, or linear, movement through the drying chamber. This means that, if the poles do not move through the drying chamber, they could not rotate. It also means that the rate of rotation of the poles about their axes was a function of their linear movement through the drying chambers, and that the poles could be rotated in one direction only.

One object of the invention is to produce means whereby the poles may be rotated at any desired speed, and independently of their linear movement through the drying chamber.

A further object of the invention is to produce means whereby, unlike the Parkes patent aforesaid, the poles may be rotated in either direction independently of the unidirectional movement of the poles through the drying chamber.

A still further object is to provide means for carrying out the invention which can be incorporated in a loop drying machine without in any way interfering with the structure of the machine itself and without appreciably increasing the cost of the machine.

The full nature of the invention vwill be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view partly in section and partly in elevation of a drying machine, embodying the invention, the view being taken on line 1-1 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view looking in the direction of line 2-2 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view looking in the direction of line 4-4 on FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1 there is shown the outline of a drying chamber through which the material 12 to be dried is adapted to move in the form of loops 14 suspended from poles 16 which travel through the drying chamber in the direction of arrow 18. The poles are freely rotatable on shafts 26 which are secured to sprocket chains 20 which travel endlessly over idle sprockets 22 and are propelled by driven States Patent sprocket 24. Sprocket 24 is driven at any desired speed by 70 any prime mover in any conventional manner, not shown.

" 2,988,255, C@ Patented .inne 13, 1961 To support the poles independently of the sprocket chain, shafts 26 are provided with freely rotating end Wheels or rollers 28 which ride on tracks 30 which are secured to opposite sides of the frame 32 of the machine. By this arrangement, the poles carrying the loops are propelled through the drying chamber by sprocket chains 20 at a rate determined by the rate of rotation of sprocket 24, with the weight of the poles supported by tracks 30. The structure of the machine thus far described forms no part of the invention and, for a more detailed disclosure thereof, reference may be had to the said Parkes patent.

In order to rotate the poles at any desired speed and independently of their movement in the drying chamber, and in order to be able to rotate the poles about their axes in either direction, sprockets 18 and racks 19 of the said Parkes patent are omitted, and the poles 16 are provided with sprockets 36 which are secured to opposite ends of the poles at 38 and which are adapted to engage an endless sprocket chain 40 which travels over sprockets 42 in the manner best shown in FIGS. l and 3. Sprocket chain 40 is preferably co-extensive with the length of the drying chamber and is driven by a belt or the like 44 engaging pulley 46 on the shaft of one of sprockets 42. Belt 44 is actuated by the power output pulley 48 of a Reeves variable drive 50 which, in turn, is driven by a conventional reversible motor, not shown. In order to insure positive engagement of sprocket chain 40 with sprockets 36, I use a hold down member which, as shown in FIG. 3, is in the nature of an angle, the horizontal leg 52 of which engages the upper side of sprocket chain 40 and the vertical leg 54 of which is suitably secured to the frame work of the machine in any desired manner, not shown.

By the arrangement described, sprockets 36 are protected against sagging by engagement of rolls 28 with track 30 and sprocket chain 40 is prevented from arching out of engagement with sprockets 36 by guide 52. This insures that the poles can be positively rotated in clockwise or in counterclockwise direction and at the desired rate and, by merely selecting the direction of movement of sprocket chain 40 and by regulating the rate of rotation of power output pulley 48 of the conventional Reeves variable drive 50, the rate of rotation of the poles about their axes can be controlled.

What I claim is:

The combination with a drying machine of the type which includes a drying chamber, an endless conveyor comprising a plurality of parallel poles, ixed tracks movably supporting said conveyor, and means for unidirectionally propelling said conveyor through said drying chamber, said poles being individually rotatable about their respective axes, and in either direction, of actuating means for rotating said poles about their respective axes independently of the movement of said conveyor through said drying chamber, Saidactuating means including an endless sprocket chain mounted above the path of movement of said conveyor, sprockets carried by said conveyor and engaging said sprocket chain, means for driving said sprocket chain in either direction, and a fixed guide pressing down on the lower liight of said sprocket chain for insuring continuous and positive engagement of said sprocket chain with said sprockets.

References Cited in the :tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,494,307 Hinnekens May 13, 1924 1,987,250 Wenzel Jan. 8, 1935 2,035,227 Fowler Mar. 24, 1936 2,196,921 Hurxthal Apr. 9, 1940 

